Hope
by swimfast12
Summary: A fluffy LilyJames oneshot, slight onesided hatelove. My first stab at this kinda thing...R


-**Taking a very short break from my Star Wars fic, and writing a nice, fluffy LJ oneshot. If it's no good, it's my first try at this sort of thing. Enjoy-I hope…-**SF12

That James Potter! Lily raged in her head, as she crept up to the boys' dormitories. She knew James had matured since last year, and that his head was no longer _quite_ as swelled. It had taken him a few months to actually ask her out again since sixth year. She hadn't been expecting it, and though she would never admit it, she actually considered the matter for a moment. But she politely declined, as she remembered a few pranks from third year, and when James bullied Snape by the lake in their fifth year. She thought he would get over it, looking at how much he had changed.

She was wrong.

He'd begged and pleaded, and she even saw a little of his previous cockiness. He told her, in a sincere way, that he truly loved her. But he was a great actor, Potter. She knew the only reason he kept trying was to make the only girl in all of Hogwarts go out with him. It made her mad. Nothing seemed to have changed. Angrily, she told him so and stormed off. And now, she wanted revenge.

She reached his dormitories, glancing furtively into the room, and breathed a sigh of relief. They were all still at dinner. All the same, she snuck through the room, trying not to make a sound. You never knew, James Potter could be hiding, as he was such a trickster. Him and Sirius Black.

She searched for his four-poster, knowing they would be back soon, she had to hurry-and then she spotted a trunk at the foot of a bed with the initials J.P. on it.

Lily looked around uneasily, and then pointed her wand at the trunk lock. "_Alohomora." _The lock snapped open, and Lily began to dig through the trunk's contents. She needed, something, anything, he would miss, She'd take it, and hide where even he wouldn't find it. That would show him that she meant business, and to lay off. Secretly, she wondered whom she was kidding. James had been at it since second year, and he had never given up.

At last, Lily found something worthwhile. She gasped as she unraveled what looked like an Invisibility Cloak. She had no idea he had something of such value. Yes, this would do. Perfect.

But as she turned to leave, footsteps sounded on the stairs. Someone was heading up to the dormitory! Quickly shutting the trunk, Lily was faced with a dilemma-how would she get out of here without being noticed? Struck by an idea, she covered herself with the cloak and crouched by the side of James's bed.

The door opened, and Lily just barely suppressed a groan. Things couldn't have been worse. James Potter himself.

James crossed the room and headed for his trunk. Lily could not believe her bad luck! After a moment, he would realize the cloak wasn't there, and the jig would up.

But James seemed too focused on what he was doing to notice his Invisibility Cloak was missing. After a moment of rummaging, he came up with a leather-bound journal. Opening it to a fresh page, he dipped a quill in an inkbottle, and began to write.

From under the cloak, Lily gawked at him. James Potter? A _journal_? He never seemed like the writing type. Or even the thinking type. While she knew very well he was clever, he tended not to use his brain now and then.

This was the perfect opportunity to sneak out. James was absorbed in what he was doing, and if he didn't notice a considerably noticeable item was missing from his trunk, he wouldn't pay any attention to the door quietly opening. But curiosity tugged at the region of her mind that dealt with common sense. What was he writing that was this important? She leaned over him tentatively, reading over his shoulder. Normally she wouldn't want to pry, but this was James Potter she was dealing with.

_I asked Lily Evans out again today, and I'm sorry to say she said no. I'm such an idiot. I thought…well, she was being nicer to me this year, and I'll admit at first she was polite about it. But I persisted, and tried arrogance, hoping it might help. It didn't. Stupid, stupid, stupid! It's just that…I love her so much, and she can't see it. She still sees me as that immature prankster, James Potter. But why can't she just use her eyes? I've been in love with her since first year, though we were kinda young. So I asked her in second year. No good. I suppose the big deciding factor was two years ago, what with the giant squid comment. I just can't understand why she doesn't look at me as if I'm a person, not a grindylow. I thought there was hope this year, since I stopped being so egotistical, but apparently not. She hates me still. I just wonder why…_

Lily couldn't believe her eyes, thinking for a moment that her vision must be blurred under the cloak. But with a quick, nonverbal Magnifying Charm said otherwise. She pondered this, stunned, as she undid the Charm. The thought that James might actually be in love with her had never crossed her mind. A spoiled, sure-of-himself show-off. That had always been her vision of him. But as she began to turn her mind back to some of those incidents, she saw only a slightly lovesick boy with thoughtfulness in his eyes and mind.

James began to flip back the pages of the journal slowly, and Lily saw other entries, all about her, Describing how beautiful she was, some incidents where she had turned him down…now and then there was a single page devoted only to her initials. Making up her mind, she leaned toward him slightly, whispering "James?" and trying not to scare him.

She failed.

He shot up from his chair and she expected him to go for his wand. But he recognized the voice. "Lily?" he asked softly.

She shook off the cloak and tossed it to him, but he was too busy staring to catch it. "James, did you mean everything you were writing?"

He didn't respond, but suddenly his arms were around her, and his lips pressed against hers. To her great surprise, Lily enjoyed the kiss and found herself kissing him back.

They stood there for a long time, until finally breaking apart. "Does that answer your question?" he said, grinning in that mischievous way. She smiled at him, and realized she was falling for him. For good reasons. It had taken her this long to realize his feelings for her, and her own for him.

"So if I were to ask you out one more time to that Hogsmeade weekend tomorrow…" Lily laughed and nodded. "Of course."

"Yes!"

She laughed again, and took out a quill. "Where's that journal?"

James produced it and she wrote this on the last available page: _October 12th, 1977. I, Lily M. Evans, have finally agreed to go out with James T. Potter. He has no need for this journal anymore._

He took the journal, and told her he had an idea.

Pointing his wand at the sideboard of his four-poster, he muttered a spell she didn't recognize. He then waved his wand in a rectangular shape, and a similarly shaped panel appeared on the board. It blended in and was very hard to find when Lily squinted at the wood for it.

James pressed the panel, and a drawer popped open. It was small, but the journal would fit. "It took me six years to make you see my love for you. I thought the day would never come. And someday, when a Gryffindor has trouble getting noticed, and thinks he'll never get a chance at someone, he might discover this. It'll give him hope, since well, look at us. Six years-it took us that long and we're finally going out."

"I don't know, shouldn't something like that be kept private?"

He simply turned and kissed her again, and suddenly, she didn't care. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she thought to herself-Well, who wants love to be a secret?

They walked out, his arm around her waist, to enjoy love's splendor.

Many years later…

Sixteen-year-old Harry Potter lay awake in his bed, wondering about something. He wished thing were the way they were a few years ago, when Ginny Weasley fancied him, and he wouldn't have to go to all this trouble. But what was the use? She was in love with Dean Thomas, and Ron would hate him if he made a step in her direction. He would never get a chance with her. In anger, he balled his hand into a fist and slammed it against the sideboard of his bed. It didn't make much noise, so no one woke up. But to Harry's surprise, his fist had hit something and a hidden drawer had opened. Curious, he grabbed his wand and muttered "_Lumos!_"

He reached inside and found a dust-covered journal. Wary at first, remembering Riddle's diary, he opened it up to the first page. There, in a barely visible scrawl, the name _James Potter_ startled him. He sat there for a few moments, contemplating what kind of a coincidence this was. Then, he started to read.

As he closed the last page, he smiled to himself, and whispered "_Nox._" Harry turned over on his side and one last thought slipped into his mind. Maybe there was still hope…


End file.
